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New Research Shows Americans Are in a Sticky Situation with Their Kitchen Floors
We walk, play and eat on them, but often forget to clean them

Posted on August 1, 2013

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., June ___, 2013 – Our kitchens are the heart of our homes and the hub of our household activities, but a study just released by Kelton Research and BISSELL Homecare, Inc., shows we’re not treating them with the TLC they deserve. More than three in four Americans (77 percent) say their kitchen floor isn’t always as clean as it could be, and one in four admits that it’s at least sometimes, if not more often, dirty enough for feet to stick to. While this has something to do with the level of activity our kitchens see – everything from cooking and entertaining, to doing homework and playing with pets – it’s compounded by the fact that close to one-third of Americans who clean their floors wait at least a week to do so, likely because they don’t want to spend the time and effort.

“What’s ironic about this situation is that, while many consumers are hyper-vigilant about sanitization outside their homes, they’re forgetting about one large surface they actually have control over – their kitchen floor,” said Leah Haywood, associate brand manager for BISSELL. “Plus, our research shows that when they do clean their hard floors, they use a mop which often pushes germs around, or they get down on their hands and knees and scrub1! We want people to know that steam mops offer easy, effective solutions for sanitizing* floors. Our goal is to help Americans spend more time making memories and less effort cleaning up after them.”

Kitchen floor confidential Overall, Americans aren’t proud of the state of their kitchen floors – more than two in three (68 percent) say it isn’t always clean enough to prevent embarrassment if guests stopped by; more than three in four (77 percent) don’t think it’s always clean enough to show their home to prospective buyers; and nearly one in four (24 percent) say it’s at least sometimes too dirty to allow guests to enter the room.

Americans crave a deeper clean, with 58 percent saying their kitchen floor is at least sometimes in need of sanitization, but they’re deterred by the time (20 minutes, on average) and effort they think it requires. Nearly half (49 percent) say their kitchen takes more effort than any other room in their home to clean properly.

At the same time, cleaning perceptions and behaviors are markedly misaligned. About three in four (72 percent) say their kitchen floor isn’t always clean enough to allow a child to sit or crawl on it, but roughly half (46 percent) of parents say they’d let their child eat food dropped on the kitchen floor if it’s been there for five seconds or less, and another 7 percent would allow their child to eat any food that’s been on the kitchen floor no matter how long it’s been there. Are parents unsuspecting of the germs that live on kitchen floors, or just too worn out to care?

Parenting’s sticky side effectsHouseholds with kids have even tougher cleaning challenges, as little ones are identified as causing more difficult-to-clean floor turmoil than pets or significant others. More than half (54 percent) of parents with a cat or dog say their child is more likely than their pet to cause a tougher-to-clean mess on any floor in their home, and four in five (80 percent) married parents say their child is more likely than their spouse to cause these sticky situations. While kids of all ages are cited as mess-makers, on average, the ones who leave parents grappling with the trickiest messes are nearly 4-years old.

Not only do those with kids face greater cleaning challenges, they also hold themselves to higher standards when it comes to their homes. Married parents are 20 percent more likely than non-parents (55 percent vs. 46 percent) to think their in-laws would judge them more for grime on their floor than stains on their clothing, and 65 percent of parents (vs. 54 percent of non-parents) say their kitchen floor is at least sometimes in need of sanitization.

A smarter solutionThe good news is that we are taking responsibility for dealing with floor messes, even if it means flying solo. More than nine in ten (92 percent) Americans say they would typically clean up a mess in their home on their own instead of getting help or leaving it there, and only two percent say they would ignore the mess altogether. So, if we’re stuck with tackling floor messes, why not explore a smarter solution?

“As many as 82 percent of Americans perceive steam as an effective tool for cleaning hard floors, but our research shows only a fraction of them realize that steam mops exist1,” said Haywood. “We want consumers to know that BISSELL can help them achieve a deep clean with less effort than it takes with a mop and bucket.”

The BISSELL PowerFresh Steam Mop cleans dried-on sticky messes twice as fast as the leading steam mop. Using just heat and water, steam can remove 99 percent of germs and bacteria*. It is available for a suggested retail price of $99.99 at bissell.com and at mass retailers including Target, Amazon.com, JCPenney, Lowe’s and BestBuy.

Visit www.bissell.com to learn more about BISSELL’s full line of cleaning products.

Methodological notes: The research was conducted by Kelton, a leading global insights firm, between March 26th and April 1st, 2013 among 1,064 nationally representative Americans ages 18 and over, using an email invitation and an online survey. Quotas are set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the entire U.S. population ages 18 and over. Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results. In this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 3 percentage points from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample. The margin of error for any subgroups will be slightly higher.

About BISSELL Homecare, Inc.For 137 years and counting, Michigan-based BISSELL Homecare, Inc. has developed innovative floor care solutions that make cleaning easier. As the top-selling brand in floor care appliances, BISSELL understands that fuller lives often mean more messes, and that convenient cleaning tools help us embrace life’s messier moments. Now in its fourth generation of family leadership, the company supplies households across the globe with vacuums, sweepers, deep-cleaning machines, hard surface cleaners and cleaning formulas. For more on BISSELL’s complete line of floor care products, visit www.bissell.com.